The invention concerns a closing and opening device for a furniture element which is mounted movably on an item of furniture. The device includes a lockable ejection device for moving the movable furniture element out of a closed end position into an open position, and further includes a magnetic retaining device for the movably mounted furniture element. The magnetic retaining device comprises at least two parts of which a first part is or can be arranged on the furniture body, and the other part is or can be arranged on the movable furniture element and which exert a magnetic attraction force on each other at least in the closed position of the movable furniture element. The first part of the retaining device, that is arranged on the furniture body, is mounted movably in the direction of the movable furniture element.
The magnetic retaining devices for keeping a portion shut of the general kind set forth which are known from the state of the art can be subdivided into two groups depending on their respective kind of use. More specifically, those two groups include a first group of those whose function is restricted to holding the movable furniture element in the closed position, and a second group of those which are used in combination with an ejection device.
If the magnetic retaining device is used exclusively to arrest a movable portion of an article of furniture in a closed position, it is known for the first portion, arranged on the furniture carcass, of the magnetic retaining device to be subjected to the action of a spring in the direction of the movable furniture element, and for it to be arranged on the furniture carcass in such a way that that first portion of the magnetic retaining device projects a certain amount beyond the front of the furniture carcass when the furniture element is opened. That is intended to ensure that this generally magnetic portion of the magnetic retaining device, upon closure of the movable furniture element, comes into contact with the magnetizable counterpart pole, arranged on the movable furniture element, of the magnetic retaining device, even when the movable furniture element does not bear directly against the front of the furniture carcass. It has been found that this state of the art suffers from the disadvantage that a rebound movement of the movable furniture element which occurs when the movable furniture element is slammed shut by a user with excessive force is still further increased by the spring which acts in the opening direction of the movable furniture element and which acts on the portion, arranged on the furniture carcass, of the magnetic retaining device. This slamming can thereby result in the movable furniture element being torn off the movable portion of the magnetic retaining device, that is arranged on the furniture carcass.
The second group of known magnetic retaining devices is used in combination with lockable ejection devices which are based on the touch-latch principle. In such a magnetic retaining device described for example in EP 1 598 509 A1, movable mounting of the portion of the magnetic retaining device, that is arranged on the furniture carcass, is necessarily such that the generally magnetic first portion of the magnetic retaining device, starting from a closed end position of the movable furniture element in which the two portions of the magnetic retaining device bear against each other can be moved in the closing direction of the movable furniture element. Therefore, as is known per se, the locked ejection device is released, and thus the portion of the magnetic retaining device that is associated with the furniture carcass must also be moved into a position which—viewed in the closing direction of the movable furniture element—is behind the closed end position of the furniture element. It has been found that the state of the art suffers from the disadvantage that the first portion of the retaining device, that is arranged on the furniture carcass, does not have a defined neutral position when the movable furniture element is opened, whereby unwanted noise generation can occur by virtue of the movement of the first portion of the retaining device both upon closure and also upon opening of the movable furniture element (that is to say, when the contact between the two portions of the magnetic retaining device is made or released).
In addition, DE 40 11 722 A1 discloses a closing device for a movable portion of an article of furniture, in which the first portion of a magnetic retaining device that is associated with the furniture carcass has a two-part structure. A portion is mounted movably, and the mobility of the portion serves to cancel or enhance the magnetic action of that first portion, associated with the furniture carcass, of the magnetic retaining device, depending on the position of the two portions relative to each other.